Hello, I was just wondering if anyone has ever tried to contact local bars and ask if you could come by around closing time collect empty bottles that they have from that night so that you could use them to bottle your own beer? I don't know if this is okay or allowed for bars, however I feel like it would be an easy way to get bottles to bottle with.

The vast majority of bottles that I use in brewing were bought with beer in them! Think about that concept: you buy a beer bottle and it already has beer in it! Then, you enjoy that beer and you keep the bottle! And I currently have approaching twenty 24-bottle cases of beer bottles.

You'd also be surprised how quickly friends and family collect them. Getting them to stop bringing empty sixers over because you've already got enough for your next five batches is a lot harder than getting them to start. :-)